UPDATE 2-European stocks dip on second wave fears, Brexit uncertainty

(For a live blog on European stocks, type LIVE/ in an Eikon
news window)
* Food & bev, healthcare, retail stocks lead declines
* New COVID-19 restrictions dent investor sentiment
* FTSE 100 dips on stronger pound, political wrangling
* Italy's Atlantia tops STOXX 600

(Updates to close)
By Sagarika Jaisinghani
Oct 14 (Reuters) - European shares ended slightly lower on
Wednesday, extending a decline from the previous day as surging
coronavirus cases stoked fears of more sweeping lockdowns, with
uncertainty over a Brexit trade deal also dampening the mood.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX fell 0.1%, with
food and beverage .SX3P , healthcare .SXDP and retail .SXRP
stocks leading declines.
Hopes of more stimulus to help businesses ride out the
COVID-19 pandemic helped European shares track gains in global
equities in the past few weeks, but prospects of more lockdowns
and signs of a delay in a vaccine have since dented sentiment.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Tuesday imposed new
restrictions on gatherings, restaurants, sports and school
activities. "There is still hope that targeted restrictions might be
able to contain the spread of the virus," said Commerzbank
analyst Thu Lan Nguyen.
"If infection trends were to continue, this hope will start
to dwindle though (and) it would look to the market as if the
U.S. was handling the pandemic better after all."
London's FTSE 100 .FTSE fell 0.6%, its third straight day
of declines on growing domestic political wrangling over new
business restrictions. .L
A stronger pound also weighed on the export-heavy index as
sources said the European Union and Britain were set to prolong
Brexit talks past a mid-October deadline imposed by British
Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The EU summit on Oct. 15-16 is set to conclude that progress
so far is "still not sufficient" to seal a deal, and will also
step up preparations for an abrupt split without provisions to
avoid trade tariffs or quotas.
Meanwhile, data on Wednesday showed euro zone industrial
production slowed sharply in August as expected, mainly due to a
plunge in the output of capital goods even though it was
cushioned to some extent by higher production of durable
consumer goods. In company news, Italy's Atlantia ATL.MI jumped 9.2% to
the top of the STOXX 600 after entering exclusive talks until
Oct. 18 with state lender Cassa Despositi e Prestiti over the
sale of the group's motorway assets. European food-ordering firm Just Eat Takeaway.com NV
TKWY.AS rose 6.5% as it said it had received 46% more orders
in the third quarter, thanks to a surge in online orders.
Overall, third-quarter earnings at STOXX 600 firms are
expected to have declined by 36.7% year-on-year, smaller than a
50.8% plunge in the second quarter, according to data from
Refinitiv.